Quake 5.0 in LA

[MTGuru]

About 15 minutes ago (20:38 PDT), centered near LAX. Felt it here as a short, sideways jolt, pretty weak.

Now revised down to 4.7, according to KNX (and now USGS).

You guys up there, everyone OK?

http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Maps/118-34.html

[kkrell]

Yep, no problem here, except our youngest cat is not too thrilled.

[Steamwalker]

I did feel something a little bit ago but it felt no different than my roommate closing his closet. Didn't know that had been an earthquake until after the fact.

[Protean]

I didn't care much for quakes when I lived in LA. I'm glad to be out of there. They weren't, generally, dangerous or damaging, but the potential was there for so much destruction and catastrophe without any sort of warning. Back in June, just before I left LA, after my wife and daughter had already split town, we had a relatively active one. It was long, too. They're unnerving. I honestly remember (vividly) every quake I went through in the 4 years I lived in LA.

[Joseph E. Smith]

I didn't care much for quakes when I lived in LA. I'm glad to be out of there. They weren't, generally, dangerous or damaging, but the potential was there for so much destruction and catastrophe without any sort of warning. Back in June, just before I left LA, after my wife and daughter had already split town, we had a relatively active one. It was long, too. They're unnerving. I honestly remember (vividly) every quake I went through in the 4 years I lived in LA.

And so now you appear to be living in Hurricane Central.

I remember all the fun I had in 2005 running from 4 out of five hurricanes. We stayed home for the last one... Jeanne, I think.

[jsluder]

I didn't care much for quakes when I lived in LA. I'm glad to be out of there. They weren't, generally, dangerous or damaging, but the potential was there for so much destruction and catastrophe without any sort of warning. Back in June, just before I left LA, after my wife and daughter had already split town, we had a relatively active one. It was long, too. They're unnerving. I honestly remember (vividly) every quake I went through in the 4 years I lived in LA.

And so now you appear to be living in Hurricane Central.

I remember all the fun I had in 2005 running from 4 out of five hurricanes. We stayed home for the last one... Jeanne, I think.

Hurricanes and tornadoes happen multiple times every year. I'd rather live in earthquake and volcano territory; they occur with much lower frequency. (Lived in north TX for 4 years. Nothing twists my stomach into knots quicker than seeing a big bank of green clouds.)

[Joseph E. Smith]

I didn't care much for quakes when I lived in LA. I'm glad to be out of there. They weren't, generally, dangerous or damaging, but the potential was there for so much destruction and catastrophe without any sort of warning. Back in June, just before I left LA, after my wife and daughter had already split town, we had a relatively active one. It was long, too. They're unnerving. I honestly remember (vividly) every quake I went through in the 4 years I lived in LA.

And so now you appear to be living in Hurricane Central.

I remember all the fun I had in 2005 running from 4 out of five hurricanes. We stayed home for the last one... Jeanne, I think.

Hurricanes and tornadoes happen multiple times every year. I'd rather live in earthquake and volcano territory; they occur with much lower frequency. (Lived in north TX for 4 years. Nothing twists my stomach into knots quicker than seeing a big bank of green clouds.)

It's not as easy to out-run an earthquake as it is a hurricane, however. Also, for reasons beyond my ability to relate, I like running toward a big bank of green clouds.

[jsluder]

Also, for reasons beyond my ability to relate, I like running toward a big bank of green clouds.

I've got cousins in Kansas who like to chase storms. I usually pretend we aren't related.

[Joseph E. Smith]

Also, for reasons beyond my ability to relate, I like running toward a big bank of green clouds.

I've got cousins in Kansas who like to chase storms. I usually pretend we aren't related.

I'm not certain just what it is about severe weather that captivates me so, but I can't seem to get enough of it. As a professional musician (when I am not occupied in helping to repair broken house-pets), driving all over this country (most of which has been T-Alley for the past 15 years), I have seen some pretty amazing storms... one of these days I might even bring a camera along.

[Protean]

I've been through many, many hurricanes. They aren't really that bad. I lived in Orlando throughout most of 2004, when Orlando was hit by something like 4 hurricanes. We actually left Orlando during one to stay with some friends in Tampa, then the storm turned and hit Tampa instead. I think I'm actually a hurricane magnet. In fact, I left Orlando with Ivan on my heels. I stopped in Pensacola to pick some stuff up before heading to LA. Ivan hit Pensacola the day after I left and was, by far, the most devastating hurricane to hit the area in a LONG time. My parents were out of power for the better part of a month. Ivan turned around, split into two storm fronts, and one of them followed me all the way out to LA, where they had the first rain they'd had in a long time (yes, that's right, I am responsible for ending the drought LA was in the middle of in 2004).

So, basically, I don't mind hurricanes. They're just bad storms. They can actually be pretty fun (it was neat to watch a small tree slowly uproot itself in the front yard way back when Erin hit). They do tend to spawn tornadoes, which are a bit scary (and my wife is terrified of them), but even then, tornadoes are finicky things that tend to hit a sparse few people/homes and then go away. And it's easy enough to get out of the way of a hurricane, there's plenty of advanced warning. Earthquakes are sudden, potentially incredibly damaging, affecting millions at one time. In the realm of natural disasters, I'll take a hurricane over an earthquake any day.

[Joseph E. Smith]

I've been through many, many hurricanes. They aren't really that bad. I lived in Orlando throughout most of 2004, when Orlando was hit by something like 4 hurricanes.

I forget the year (funny), 2003 or 04, anyhoo, it was that crazy run of hurricanes that began with Charlie and ended with Jeanne. Charlie fairly leveled a large area down by Haines City (7 miles from my doorstep) and severely damaged most of my neighbor's homes. Miraculously enough, our home suffered little damage beyond a bent screen door. Hurricanes can be fun, unless you're in the "business zone" of them, then they're hell on earth.

[Protean]

That was the '04 season. I left Orlando in September and had already been through Charlie and a few others. I think it was Charlie that was supposed to hit Orlando, and then suddenly cut west and made straight for Tampa, where we'd fled to. So, to all your friends who sustained damage, I sincerely apologize. I did not mean to drag the storm in that direction. Perhaps I should invest in a sturdy boat and simply make my way out to sea when a hurricane comes a-calling, so as to spare others its wrath.

I've been through the eye of many a storm, though, and while they can be potentially deadly, we've always been spared any real damage. My parents lost a few trees in Ivan, one of which fell on their brand new screen over their pool (poked a few holes in it, but the screen supports held the tree aloft), and they lost their chimney. Beyond that, they had trees across their driveway (stranding them), but no real damage. The downtown area of Pensacola was not so lucky because it's right on the water. The storm surge was tremendous, enough to knock down a big chunk of I-10 that stretched over Pensacola Bay (yes, that's right, the storm surge from Ivan was so darn massive that it actually created a big enough surge in the BAY to knock down the interstate bridge). Half of downtown was flooded, including my dad's office (the roof blew off their building and the entire building was really trashed, from the law firm on the top floor down to the bank on the first floor).

[MTGuru]

I've been through hurricanes and ice storms in New York, tornadoes in the Midwest, and earthquakes in California. And I'll take earthquakes any day (knock on wood).

The disastrous infrastructure aftermath of Hurricane Gloria in 1985 was the tipping point that led me to leave. An ice storm nearly killed my mom when she had a medical emergency and transportation was impossible. And the Indiana tornado that sent cars moving down my street without drivers was the only time I ever felt mortally threatened by weather.

The thing is ... You can sorta outrun an earthquake if you're awake and somewhere with easy egress, and not in a congested environment like an urban center city. The danger is from above, not below, and there's not much immediate life threat if you're standing in an open field or equivalent. I remember people on boats in SF Bay during the 1989 Loma Preta quake who weren't even aware of the event in progress, unless they saw the Bay Bridge collapse.

I think tornadoes are the scariest. Your instinct is to outrun them, because they're so localized. But their randomness makes that a complete fool's notion. Unless, as Joseph says, you're running toward them. All you can do is hunker down, and then the passivity is maddening. And yes, you never forget that sick, green sky.

San Diego is far enough away from the San Andreas fault (~120 miles) that if it lets go with enough energy to damage us, pretty much all of Southern California is toast. But there are a few closer faults, and the Rose Canyon fault runs right through the center of town. What genius decided to put that there?

[fel bautista]

I was wondering what was going on. My son wrote something about it on Facebook. Still in Motown.